Couch-bed.



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COUCH BED.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 24, 1911.

Patented Sept. 17, 1912.

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Inwwfiw, William PfiiHammunEZ;

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W. P. HAMMOND.

' COUCH BED.

APPLICATION rum) JULY 24, 1911.

1,038,879, Patented Sept. 17, 1912.

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WILLIAM P. Eaiento'nn, or noonroa'r, irassaonusn'rrs, .assronon T0 TRIUMPH oouon canoe, or nos'ron, messaonnsnr'rs, a oonro'an'rlon.

"a sence. I application filed. uly

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM P. HAM- MOND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of'Rockport, in the county of Plymouth and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Couch-Beds, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to that class of couches wherein two superposed bed'-sections are so disposed that upon the pressure of a persons foot upon a suitable lever or treadle, one of said sections can be moved off from and to one side of the other to com pose a bed of double the width of the couch;

while the pressure of the foot upon another I tipeeifleatlon 0t- Letters Patent treadle will cause said sections to return to their superposed position. this character usually have the inner edge Couch-beds I of y of the movable bed-section supported upon the upper ends of swinging levers pivoted at 1 their lower ends to the stationary sections, one of said levers having two togglejoints the buckling of one of which will swing the levers, and hence the movable section with them, in one direction, while the buckling of the other toggle-joint will move said parts in the opposite direction. Such toggldjoints have, however, proved unsatisfactory for several reasons. First, many users of the couch-bed preferred, when they were standing in front of the same, to open or close the sections by applying their hands directly to the movable section; but in attempting to do this found themselves prevented by the failure of the unflexed toggle joint to yield to the pressure of its connected lever. This obliges them to walkaround to the proper end of the couch-bed every time they want to change the arrangement of the same. Secondly. children or other inexperienced persons are liable to rest a foot directly upon the toggle-joint instead of upon the treadle provided, when shifting the movable bedsection, with the result of having such foot badly pinched or out by the shearing action of the. toggle joint.

My invention consists in substituting for the objectionable joints an arrangement com-prising in each case a lever arm and a flexible link so disposed as to enable the movable bed-section'to be shifted in practically the same manner as above recited, while wholly eliminating the objections referred to.

Patented Sept. it'll, 191%..

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I listening to the drawings fanning part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one end of a couch-bed embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view on a larger scale of my method of attaching the flexible links to the actuating lever. Fig. 3 is a sectidnal view of the attaching device, showing related parts. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view shown upon .a larger scale of my preferred form of the invention. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the collar forming a part thereof.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the movable bedsection 1 rests at its rear edge upon the endbars 2 of the stationary section 3, and at its front is supported by legs 4 provided with casters At each end. of the stationary section is a swinging lever 6 fixed to a rockv shaft 7 rotatably supported in the end-bars 9. The free ends of said levers are pivoted to the rear edge of the movable section at 10, and between said levers is extend-ed the brace burl]. running parallel with said shaft, and serving to brace said levers against the strain of the inner edge of the bed bottom fabric of said movable section. By forcibly moving said levers (3, the rear side of the movable bed-section is carried from the rear side to the front or vice versa of the stationary bed-section, the front of the movable section sliding in the same directions upon its casters 5. For swinging said levers; a lever arm 12 is pivoted at each of one of said lovers 6, preferably to the penis 13 of the stationary bed-section. Each arm has a foot-piece or elbow 14: at its free end-"by, ,tneans of which to forcibly swing the same downward by the convenient application ofllhefoot thereto; and to such free end is attached a' flexible connection, preferably a chain 15 the other end of which is attached to said lever. In the first attempts to attach these chains to the lever 6, they were swiveled directly thereto; but this was soon found to be highly objectionable, in as much as the chains frequently became entangled and caught in shortened positions which acted to keep the movable section from reaching its proper positions, either as a couch or a bed. It eventually found that by attaching the chains to a collar freely rotatable upon the brace-bar, this objection was wholly overcome. This collar 16 is formed with oppositely positioned eyes 17, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with which the chains are engaged. To keep said collar in place on the brace rod 11, a stationary collar 19 is put thereon, as shown in Fig. 3.

It is evident that the flexible links 15 are entirely free of the objections found to ex- .ist in connection with the toggle-joints forof one not be in danger of interference from the other; and if either one or both arrangements are provided, neither can interfere with shifting the movable bed-section by hand.

In my preferred construction, shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the lever arms'lQ are ,of cast ,metal, with the foot-engaging projections 14 carried in each case by an elbow 18. The

collar 16 is here not formed with eyes 17, but with oppositely positioned ears 2O each carrying a headed pin 21 engaged by an end of a chain 15; similar headed pins 22 being supplied to the lever arms for the opposite ends of the chains. The chains themselves are not of the wrought metal type indicated in Figs. 1 to 3, but are of the well known kind stamped from sheet metal each link of which is doubled over into engagement with the preceding link, and hence much less expensive than the other type of chain. 7 V

lVhat I claim as my invention and for which I desire Letters Patent is as follows, to wit: 1. The combination of a stationary bedsection, a movable bed-section, lever arms pivoted to the ends of the stationary bedsection and supporting the rear of the movable bed-section, a bar attached at its ends to interinediate'points of the lever ar ms, a treadle arm pivoted-to an end of the stationary bed-section at each side of the leverarm thereat, a collar loosely mountedon said to bar close to the lever arm between said treadle arms, and chains attached to opposite points of said collar and to the free ends 1" arm th'ereat, a collar rotatably mounted on said bar near the lever arm located between said treadle arms, said collar having diametrically opposite radial projections, and chains attached to said projections and to the free ends of the treadle arms.

, 3. The combination of a stationary bedsection, a movable bed-section, lever arms pivoted to the ends of the stationary bedsection and supporting the rear of the movable bed-section, a bar attached at its ends to intermediate points of the lever arms, a treadle arm pivoted to an end of the stationary bed-section ateach side of the lever arm thereat, a collar rotatably mounted on said bar near the lever arm located between said treadle arms, said collar having dia- -metrically opposite radial projections, a

headed pin projecting from each said projection parallel with said bar, a headed pin projecting from the free end of each treadle arm parallel with said bar, and chains terminally attached to said headed pins.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my handthis 8th day of June, 1911.

IVILLIAM I. HAMMOND.

Witnesses:

A. B. UPHAM, C. H. YoUNo'. 

